Ferne Koch (née Goodman), was an American photographer and fashion
consultant born in Houston, Texas, on April 8, 1913. Her interest in photography
began in the 1940s as an aid to her work in the New York fashion industry, but it
quickly expanded to all areas of her life.

In 1947, she married Arthur C. Koch, an engineer and World War II veteran with a
strong interest in the arts. The two traveled extensively throughout their lives
together, exploring Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico, and the United States. Ferne also
traveled extensively on her own, while working as a fashion consultant researching
lace, bridal designs, and new clothing styles. During every excursion she took many
photographs, both in the course of her work and in artistic pursuits.

During the Korean War, Arthur Koch was recalled by the Army and stationed at Ft.
Rucker in Daleville, Alabama. As Ferne adjusted to the life of a war bride, she
photographed the lives of the residents of the Wiregrass region. These images, and
others taken throughout the southeast, would go on to earn her national recognition.
From 1951 to 1961, she was represented by the New York photographic agency, Pix, and
she exhibited her work in Houston, Seattle, and New York. From the mid-1950s through
the mid-1980s, her work was not exhibited, but in 1986 she began printing and
exhibiting her photographs once more. She passed away on October 13, 2001.

Photographic prints, negatives, slides, correspondence, printed material, scrapbooks,
and ephemera document the life and work of Ferne Koch. The collection is organized
into the following four series: I. Photographic Materials; II. Fashion Files; III.
Personal Files; and IV. Works by Others.

Koch's photographic output is arranged chronologically, with materials being grouped
by location per the creator's original order. Large prints are housed together in
flat boxes, and all negatives have been separated to box 14. Featured prominently
are photographs taken in Daleville, Alabama, Blakely, Georgia, and Paris, France.
Also present are photographs taken during several trips to Europe, throughout the
United States, Mexico, and the Far East, among others.

Koch devoted most of her professional life to fashion. Series II. documents her work
in this field with both photographic and paper materials. Among the former are
slides, which Koch used as presentation tools. Also present are research materials
and materials relating to her involvement with Fashion Group, a professional
organization that caters to those working in the fashion industry.

Series III. contains materials pertaining to the exhibition of Ferne Koch's
photographs, several of the Koch family's homes, their travels, involvement in the
arts, as well as family photographs, scrapbooks, and correspondence. The exhibition
materials contain mostly snapshot photographs of Koch at events in the 1980s and
related printed materials. Some of these appear again in scrapbooks, as do an array
of materials related to travel, fashion, and the arts. The correspondence, which
dates 1942-1997, pertains to all areas of Koch's life and work.

Included in Series IV. are prints by other photographers, including Jameson Baker, P.
Greenberg, and Debora Hunter.

Access:

Open for research. Part or all of this collection is housed off-site and may require
up to three business days notice for access in the Ransom Center's Reading and
Viewing Room. Please contact the Center before requesting this material:
reference@hrc.utexas.edu.